Tuesday, March 30, 2010

George is the other half of Sue!! They host some of the best trials in the PNW. Additionally, they have one of the premier trials in June. They host a seafood potluck that is out of the world. Fresh clam and oysters out of the local bay. Tasty pork roasts. Tons of other foods.

Anyways, back on track! George got a new dog last year. His name is Nap. His sire is Alisdair's Nap.

George and Nap are doing great together. He is doing about 200 plus yards outruns and looking quite nice. He is under three years old and has many years with George.

George and Nap waiting their turn.

Nap holding the sheep off the draw to the exhaust.

Nice fetch to George.

About 250 plus yards up the field. Nice dog with lots of push and drive. We all look forward to this dynamic team this year.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Recently we had a practice day with a bunch of my friends. Sue and George MacDonald, Bonnie Block, Janet Thorpe, Tea and Ben Kercsmar. We all worked our dogs. I worked my new dog Taff and that was a blast. He is just like Nan but in male form. He is very devoted to me. Bonnie brought Gull who is a twin of Taff (not related). They are great bookeends since they look so similiar. George brought Nap who did some fantastic outruns. Sue brought Jackie (daughter of Tess x Pleat) and they are teaming quite well. She also brought the beautiful tri-coloured Jan. Janet brought Scott who is Mr. Reliable. Ben brought Hoot, his new pup and Nick, the handsome hunk.

And of course, Tea brought along her Sweep the Broom

Tea, sheep and Sue.

Sue giving a lesson to Tea. Sue is great with working with folks and I highly recommend going to her. She got me going in this sport by making me take a lesson from Scott, letting Tess and I run in her trial over 11 years ago (and didn't laugh at us), and giving me lessons and advice over the years. You can NOT find a truer people than Sue and George. They are simply wonderful.

Off we go!!

Quick turn.

OK, I guess I wil lie down.

Gathering the sheep and casting out nicely.

By the end of the lesson, he was casting out wide and rating well. Very nice dog and a wonderful lesson by Sue. Tea had a great time and we hope to see her back again soon.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Here are two of my most favorite people in the world. One is the person who got me to take a private lesson with Scott Glen, over 11 years ago, and she has been an influential person for me in the local trail circuit. By attending that lesson with Scott, my whole life was changed for the better.

The other person is my "little brother" that I adopted last year. He makes the best Almond Squares and is a superb pastry chef (baker).

Tess maybe be almost twelve years old and retired from trialing and is taking it easy. Sometimes, (well most of the time) she is on the couch and as I walk out to work sheep, I will ask her, "Tess, wanna got and work sheep?". She will either leap off the couch like a Cheetah after a Gazelle or roll over and go back to sleep. If there is a sport game and Getty is watching TV, she won't move as she knows she will end up in his lap and get treats.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked her if she wanted to go and she about knocked me down going out the front door. I was taking pictures of Jack, Logan, Meg and Scott and also wanted to take some of her. I just got a new 100-400 lens and was still learning how to use it. (Much thanks to Bonnie Block for getting it for me and teaching me how to use it. She has done a lot to help me improve my skills)

It was a lovely day to take photos. Here are the lambs. They are about 10 months old.

They weren't too happy about being volunteered!

Tess on the fetch. She is having a blast. As we walked out, we looked at each other and our love for each other connected. She is truly my heart dog. She has taught me so much and was a gift from God. She has a huge heart and shares it with me.

See the focus in her eyes! This was a quick, tight turn.

OK, let's do a serious walk up.

For some reason, this is one of my favorite photos of her. Her eyes show her intensity! This reminds me of the good, old days.

Doing a drive. When she drives, it's like driving a Cadillac.

Ears up. She has excellent hearing. She chooses what commands she wants to do sometimes. Look how white the hairs in her ears are now!

Coming on strong.

Holding the sheep to me. No one escapes her. She has the moves of a cutting horse.

She was enjoying working this day. First of all, she got more freedom since she is retired from trialing. So she was on the muscle and enjoying herself. I let her have fun.

She holds the draw quite well. Reads the pressure and will keep the sheep on a straight line and will not unwind her flanks. As a youngster, she would unwind her flanks but over the years, can hold any pressure point with ease. If there is a dog leg fetch, she will nail it!

She really enjoys working lambs. She calms them down.

The end.

p.s.. She got home and jumped in Getty's lap to watch the rest of a game and share his food.

I love the size and fit of my plastic whistle. However, the sound from the plastic is too harsh for my dogs. Therefore, when I got my regular size Corian whistle, I was ecstatic. It is the same size as the plastic whistle. It doesn’t have the plastic taste to it and has a solid feel in the mouth.

This time, I practiced before I went out to work my dogs. This is a good idea. I didn’t practice my with my other whistle before I sued it at a trial. Although I had no problems at the trial; indeed I won with the dog that I had been struggling with since he fights me on my whistle. That time he did not. I like how it blew and the sounds were easy to make.

Armed and dangerous now, I went to work my dogs. First dog up was Tess, my senior retired dog. I had to move ewes and lambs. I cast her out and then blew short flanks. She looked up at me and slowly flanked. I blew a down and she slowly went down. I wondered why?

The last time I really worked her was on the old whistles so this was new to her. The down was much softer than she is used to hearing. I decided to work her on the locker lambs to see how it would go. Tess was happy that she got to work so was on the muscle, but gave easily to the whistle. I blew a few downs and as we went on, she fought me less and less and soon down easily. Normally with Tess, I would blow a hard down so it was nice to blow a soft down and not have her fight me.

Next dog was Nan. She is my speed demon and very reactive to my whistles. She is very biddable and tries hard to please me. We worked the locker lambs and it was refreshing to see her soften up too. With my old whistles, I was quick and hard with them and thus, Nan and Roo would be very tough to run sometimes. I began to notice that Nan was not leaning so hard on the sheep and seemed to enjoy herself.

Changing the tone of the whistles makes a huge difference. It doesn’t put the dogs on edge and fight with me. It’s the beginning of a new partnership with my dogs. I really love the feel of the regular Corian whistle. I really enjoy the size. It produced a sound that is not harsh. I also went to my far field, which is 550 yards and worked Roo. He took the down from about 450 yards with ease and his fetch was soft. I got a easy response from him and I tucked my regular Corian with my Maxi Corian and Titanium and am prepared for the beginning of the new trial season.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Monday, March 22, 2010

I recently got a new dog. His name is Taff. He used to be called Rags. I got him from Lisa Webb. His mama is my Nan! His sire is Ralph Pulfer's Tweed. He is a huge, big boned tri male. He just turned four. Scott put a quick tuneup on him before I got him. He said he thought he would suit me.

I guess Scott knows me all too well. Why, you ask?

Taff is like Nan, except in a male version. Off stock, he talks like her, dances like her and has a lot of the same mannerisms. He is devoted to me like Nan.

I worked him for the first time this weekend. Sue, Goerge, Bonnie, Janet, Ben and Tea all came to work sheep. We had a great time. I'll post some pixs of them in a later blog. I just got Taff on Monday and we spent the week just bonding. He really likes beef jerky. His mother adores beef jerky too!!

Thanks to Bonnie Block for taking the photos for me. If you want a brillant photographer, get in touch with her.

I decided to work him for the first time in a huge field with a bunch of people watching. Gee, what a brillant idea!! What if I couldn't stop him? What if things went wrong?

I didn't have to worry. He stopped at the top on a dime. He took my whistles (and I am not sure I have them correct) and verbal commands. He is fast like Nan.

He is very fast so I have to be quick with my commands. A lot of his moves are like Nan.

On the fetch.

Driving.

End of the short and up close work. I am very happy with him. He called off and stayed with me. He is a very happy dog and I thank Lisa for sending him to me. He is one nice dog. I will be running him in PN this year.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Friday, March 19, 2010

Getty moved up from the South. Those southern boys can cook a mean meal. I have gained weight since we got married. They make dinner out of anything.

Even Alligators.

Getty brought up his pet "Gator". He resides in the front yard. So far he hasn't eaten any small children or golfers. He is a bit overweight so his fatness does slow him down. Even I can outrun him.

The lambs wandered over to his side of the yard. He was very still and waited for one to approach so he could capture it.

But alas, he failed. Not only the lambs were not afraid of him but they scoffed at him. His spirit was crushed. I guess he will have to crawl back into the brush and lick his wounds and wait for some other easy mark.

Perhaps, he might be our dinner some night? Getty says "No, since he is so old and would be tough".

Thursday, March 18, 2010

DeltaBluez Jack. Owned and loved by Nancy Roller. I had kept Jack as my pup. I had named him Grub since he was so fat as a pup and twice the size of the other pups. Nancy took a shine to him and he went to her. She renamed him Jack. Nancy has been doing all the stockdog training on Jack. She can run a ranch course with him.

She also run him in agillity but his real love is herding. He just adores her and it is evident when they work stock. He also got the perfect home.